The Week

The White House Communications Office reportedly has a budget of $122 million and a staff of about a hundred, all of whom apparently forgot about the tapes. Clinton-Gore Disease, which involves total memory loss except for what one reads in the paper that morning, is becoming epidemic.

Forty-four videotaped snippets of President Clinton greeting guests at White House coffees have been released by the White House. Since the coffees became news, Mr. Clinton’s defenders have argued that no fundraising occurred at them, but the tapes belie that claim. In one clip, Donald Fowler, then head of the Democratic National Committee, tells a guest who is offering to give him five checks on the spot, “As soon as this thing is over, I’ll call you.” As bad as the contents of the tapes is the timing of their release. The Thompson Committee first asked for them in July. The White House, said Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), “may have crossed the line of obstruction of justice. If [the tapes] are innocent, why [didn’t] we have them a long time ago?” The White House says it is still looking for “other possible taped materials”; who knows what might turn up? Karl Jackson, an Asian-affairs expert who attended one coffee, testified that John Huang told the guests elections “cost money, lots of money, and I’m sure everyone here will want to support the re-election of President Clinton.” That would not look good with lights, camera, and action.

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The White House Communications Office reportedly has a budget of $122 million and a staff of about a hundred, all of whom apparently forgot about the tapes. Clinton-Gore Disease, which involves total memory loss except for what one reads in the paper that morning, is becoming epidemic.

Forty-four videotaped snippets of President Clinton greeting guests at White House coffees have been released by the White House. Since the coffees became news, Mr. Clinton’s defenders have argued that no fundraising occurred at them, but the tapes belie that claim. In one clip, Donald Fowler, then head of the Democratic National Committee, tells a guest who is offering to give him five checks on the spot, “As soon as this thing is over, I’ll call you.” As bad as the contents of the tapes is the timing of their release. The Thompson Committee first asked for them in July. The White House, said Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), “may have crossed the line of obstruction of justice. If [the tapes] are innocent, why [didn’t] we have them a long time ago?” The White House says it is still looking for “other possible taped materials”; who knows what might turn up? Karl Jackson, an Asian-affairs expert who attended one coffee, testified that John Huang told the guests elections “cost money, lots of money, and I’m sure everyone here will want to support the re-election of President Clinton.” That would not look good with lights, camera, and action.